Friday, June 19, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 19 On June 19th, 1870, the Confederate States of America were dissolved.

Other Notable Events, June 19 In A.D. 325, the early Christian church opened the general council of Nicaea, which settled on rules for computing the date of Easter.

In 1787, the U.S. Constitutional Convention voted to strike down the Articles of Confederation and form a new government.

In 1846, two amateur baseball teams played under new rules at Hoboken, N.J., planting the first seeds of organized baseball. The New York Nine beat the Knickerbockers, 23-1.

In 1856, the first Republican national convention ended in Philadelphia with the nomination of explorer John Charles Fremont of California for president. James Buchanan, a Federalist nominated by the Democrats, was elected.

In 1867, Austrian Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, installed as emperor of Mexico by French Emperor Napoleon III in 1864, was executed on the orders of Benito Juarez, the president of the Mexican Republic.

Also in 1867, the first running of the Belmont Stakes took place at Jerome Park, N.Y.

In 1905, Pittsburgh showman Harry Davis opened the world's first nickelodeon, showing the silent Western film "The Great Train Robbery." The storefront theater boasted 96 seats and charged 5 cents and prompted the advent of movie houses across the United States.

In 1943, World War II's Battle of the Philippine Sea began, as Japan tried unsuccessfully to prevent further Allied advancement in the South Pacific.

In 1953, convicted spies Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.

In 1977, Elvis Presley made his final live concert recordings, at a series of appearances in Nebraska. He died two months later.

In 1987, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the 1981 Louisiana law that required schools to teach the creationist theory of human origin espoused by fundamentalist Christians.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved a plan to prohibit the export of military supplies to Iraq.

In 2000, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that prayers led by students at public high school football games are not permitted under the constitutional separation of church and state.

In 2005, a suicide bomber killed at least 23 people, including some Iraqi police officers, in a crowded Baghdad restaurant. The next day saw suicide car bombers kill a reported 26 policemen and security forces in Baghdad and Irbil.

Also in 2005, opponents of Syrian domination won a majority of seats in the final round of Lebanon's parliamentary elections.

In 2006, Japan threatened "severe action" if North Korea launches a long-range missile as it was believed preparing to do.

In 2007, 10,000 U.S. and 3,000 Iraqi troops launched a major offensive targeting the Sunni jihadist terrorist group known as al-Qaida in Iraq in Iraq's Baquba area.

In 2008, Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, became the first at that level to bypass public financing since the program was established. Obama said he believed the move would provide better resources to defend his campaign from attacks by Republicans.

Notable Birthdays for June 19 Those born on this date include:- James VI of Scotland, later James I of England, in 1566- French philosopher and mathematician Blaise Pascal in 1623- The Duchess of Windsor, born Bessie Wallis Warfield, in 1896- Moe Howard, leader of the Three Stooges, in 1897- Bandleader Guy Lombardo in 1902- Baseball legend Lou Gehrig in 1903- Former U.S. Sen. Alan Cranston, D-Calif., in 1914- Film critic Pauline Kael in 1919- Actress Nancy Marchand in 1928- Actress Gena Rowlands in 1930 (age 79)- Author Salman Rushdie in 1947 (age 62)- Actress Phylicia Rashad in 1948 (age 61)- Singer Ann Wilson of Heart in 1950 (age 59)- Actress Kathleen Turner in 1954 (age 55)- Singer Paula Abdul in 1962 (age 47)

Thursday, June 18, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 18 On June 18th, 1928, Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean.

Other Notable Events, June 18 In 1812, the United States declared war on Britain.

In 1815, England's Duke of Wellington and Prussian Field Marshal Gebhard von Blucher defeated Napoleon at Waterloo in Belgium.

In 1975, Saudi Arabian Prince Museid was publicly beheaded in Riyadh for the assassination of King Faisal.

In 1979, U.S. President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed a strategic arms control treaty in Vienna, Austria.

In 1983, Sally Ride became the first American woman in space as the space shuttle Challenger was launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla.

In 1990, James Edward Pough, 42, whose car had been repossessed, killed eight people and wounded five more before committing suicide at a General Motors Acceptance Corp. loan office in Jacksonville, Fla. He was believed to have killed two others a day earlier.

In 1993, eight U.S. military officers arrived in the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia to help plan the deployment of a U.N. force that would seek to prevent the Bosnia conflict from spreading.

In 1996, the U.S. Senate issued its Whitewater reports. The Republican report accused first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton of obstruction of justice.

Also in 1996, Unabomber suspect Theodore Kaczynski was charged with two killings in California; he pleaded innocent. Charges from New Jersey would come later.

In 1997, Turkish Premier Necmettin Erbakan resigned under pressure after his governing coalition lost its majority in Parliament.

In 2000, Ethiopia and Eritrea signed a cease-fire, ending their monthlong war.

In 2002, a suicide bomber killed himself and 19 others when he detonated explosives aboard a bus in Jerusalem.

In 2003, two nights of rioting left the Lake Michigan community of Benton Harbor, Mich., covered with smoldering ruins and broken glass in the aftermath of a deadly police motorcycle chase.

In 2004, U.S. hostage Paul Johnson Jr., 49, was killed by his Saudi captors despite pleas from senior Muslim clerics.

In 2006, North Korea appeared poised to test a missile after reports that satellite imagery showed fueling had been completed. The pending test drew sharp criticism from the United States and others.

Also in 2006, some 800 U.S. National Guard troops began working along the 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border as part of a federal plan to slow illegal immigration.

In 2007, the United States and the European Union announced they would resume aid to Palestinians. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians waited at the Israeli border trying to escape from Hamas-controlled Gaza.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Today is Wednesday, June 17, the 168th day of 2009 with 197 to follow.

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 17 On June 17th, 1885, the Statute of Liberty arrived in New York Harbor. Other Notable Events, June 17 In 1967, China announced it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb.

In 1972, the Watergate scandal began with the arrest of five burglars inside Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington.

In 1982, Argentina's President Leopoldo Galtieri resigned in response to Britain's victory in the Falkland Islands war.

In 1986, Kate Smith, one of America's most popular singers in the '20s, '30s and '40s, died at the age of 79.

Also in 1986, Maryland basketball star Len Bias, about to enter the pro ranks, dropped dead from cocaine intoxication, focusing national attention on cocaine use by athletes.

In 1991, South African President F.W. de Klerk ended apartheid when he repealed the Population Registration Act that classified South Africans by race from birth.

In 1992, two Germans were released by their pro-Iranian kidnappers after three years' captivity in Lebanon. They were the last of the Western hostages to be freed.

In 1994, Los Angeles police charged O.J. Simpson with killing his ex-wife and her friend. The former football star and actor was acquitted in a controversial, high-profile trial.

Also in 1994, members of the Branch Davidian cult were sentenced to prison on charges stemming from the 1993 federal raid on their compound near Waco, Texas.

In 1996, ValuJet Airlines shut down about a month after a crash in the Florida Everglades led to questions about the carrier's safety and maintenance records.

In 2003, Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien promised legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage throughout his country.

In 2004, a massive car bomb killed at least 30 people and wounded 150 others in central Baghdad, two weeks before the handover of power to Iraqis.

In 2005, L. Dennis Kozlowski, former chief executive of Tyco, was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and grand larceny charges.

In 2006, two men died and 12,000 villagers were left without water as Indonesia's most active volcano, Mount Merapi, erupted, spewing gas, rocks and lava.

In 2007, a fire at a Charleston, S.C., furniture store killed nine firefighters when the roof collapsed.

Also in 2007, British police said they rescued 31 children from abuse when they broke up a large international pedophile ring that stretched into 35 countries.

In 2008, the battle against flooding shifted to Illinois and Missouri as the Mississippi River threatened to spill over levees and flood towns in its path. Officials placed millions of sandbags atop levees along the great river in Illinois, Iowa and Missouri to prevent the rain-swollen waterway from overflowing.

Also in 2008, negotiators for Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls the Gaza Strip, reported reaching agreement on a three-step cease-fire plan to quell the violence in the region.

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

Other Notable Events, June 16 In 1883, the New York Giants had the first Ladies' Day baseball game.

In 1917, the first Congress of Soviets was convened in Russia.

In 1958, the leader of the unsuccessful Hungarian uprising against Soviet rule, former Premier Imre Nagy, was executed.

In 1963, the Soviet Union put the first woman into space, cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova.

In 1977, Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev, first secretary of the Soviet Communist Party since 1964, was elected president of the Supreme Soviet, thereby becoming both head of party and head of state.

In 1986, South African blacks marked the 10th anniversary of the Soweto uprising with a one-day strike. Eleven blacks were killed in the resulting violence.

In 1987, the last surviving dusky seaside sparrow died at Walt Disney World.

In 1992, U.S. President George H.W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin met at the White House for the first U.S.-Russian summit.

Also in 1992, former U.S. Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger was indicted on five felony counts of lying to Congress and investigators in connection with the Iran-Contra scandal.

In 1993, the U.N. Security Council voted to impose a worldwide ban on oil shipments to Haiti.

In 1999, U.S. Vice President Al Gore announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.

In 2004, the U.S. commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks said Iraq played no role in the attacks and the CIA knew of a plot in June.

In 2005, the U.S. Army awarded the first Silver Star for bravery in combat to a female soldier in the Iraq war, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester, 23, of Bowling Green, Ky.

In 2007, the bodies of 13 members of the Iraqi Olympic tae kwon do martial arts team were found near Ramadi, over a year after the athletes were abducted while driving to a Jordan training camp.

Also in 2007, leaders of the Episcopal Church in the United States rejected demands they adopt a stronger stand against homosexuality.

In 2008, one month after the California Supreme Court struck down laws prohibiting gay marriage, couples flooded into city halls all over the state to get married. California is the second state, behind Massachusetts, to legalize same-sex marriage.

Monday, June 15, 2009

On June 15th, 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine -- an early veOn June 15th, 1822, Charles Babbage proposed a difference engine -- an early version of a computer.rsion of a computer.

Other Notable Events, June 15 In 1215, under pressure from rebellious barons, England's King John signed the Magna Carta, a crucial first step toward creating Britain's constitutional monarchy.

In 1752, Benjamin Franklin, in a dangerous experiment, demonstrated the relationship between lightning and electricity by flying a kite during a storm in Philadelphia. An iron key suspended from the string attracted a lightning bolt.

In 1785, two Frenchmen attempting to cross the English Channel in a hot-air balloon were killed when their balloon caught fire and crashed. It was the first fatal aviation accident.

In 1846, the U.S.-Canadian border was established.

In 1877, Henry Ossian Flipper, born a slave in Thomasville, Ga., became the first African-American cadet to graduate from West Point.

In 1904, the excursion steamboat "General Slocum" caught fire on the East River in New York, killing 1,121 people.

In 1944, U.S. forces invaded the Japanese-occupied Mariana Islands in World War II action. By day's end, a beachhead had been established on the island of Saipan.

In 1987, Richard Norton of Philadelphia and Calin Rosetti of West Germany completed the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth in a single-engine propeller aircraft, landing in Paris after a 38,000-mile flight.

In 1996, 206 people were injured when a bomb exploded in a mall in Manchester, England.

In 1998, Nigeria's new military ruler ordered the release of some of the political prisoners jailed under the previous regime.

In 1999, South Korean ships sank a North Korean torpedo boat, killing all aboard. The incident followed a series of confrontations in disputed territorial waters.

In 2004, a U.S. Army general suspended after prisoner abuse was revealed at a Baghdad prison said she was ordered to treat prisoners like dogs. Brig Gen. Janis Karpinski said she was being made a scapegoat for the scandal.

In 2005, the trial of a man accused of organizing the abduction and slaying of three civil rights workers in 1964 got under way in Philadelphia, Miss., 41 years after the deed.

In 2006, at least 61 people, including 15 children, were killed when their bus hit a land mine in northern Sri Lanka.

In 2007, a Mississippi jury convicted a reputed Ku Klux Klansman in the abductions and killings of two black teenagers 43 years earlier.

In 2008, heavy rains in China killed 55 people and forced more than 1 million to flee their homes.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

On June 14th, 1775, George Washington was named Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army.

Other Notable Events, June 14 In 1623, in the first breach of promise suit in the United States, the Rev. Greville Pooley sued Cicely Jordan in Charles City, Va., for jilting him for another man.

In 1775, the Continental Congress established the army as the first U.S. military service.

In 1777, the Star and Stripes became the national U.S. flag.

In 1919, Capt. John Alcock and Lt. Arthur Brown flew a Vickers Vimy bomber 1,900 miles non-stop from St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada, to Clifden, Ireland, for the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight.

In 1922, Warren G. Harding became the first U.S. president to broadcast a message over the radio. The occasion was the dedication of the Francis Scott Key Memorial in Baltimore.

In 1951, Univac I, the world's first commercial computer, designed for the U.S. Census Bureau, was unveiled.

In 1985, Shiite Muslim gunmen commandeered TWA Flight 847 carrying 153 passengers and crew from Athens to Rome. The ordeal ended 17 days later in Beirut, where one of the hostages, a U.S. sailor, was killed.

In 1990, flash floods around Shadyside, Ohio, killed at least 26 people and damaged or destroyed more than 800 homes in four eastern Ohio counties.

In 1991, NATO and five Eastern European nations approved a compromise, ending a dispute over a U.S.-Soviet treaty limiting conventional armies in Europe.

In 1993, U.S. President Bill Clinton nominated federal Judge Ruth Bader Ginsberg for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. She succeeded Justice Byron White.

In 1998, the Chicago Bulls won their sixth NBA title in eight years and third in a row, defeating the Utah Jazz in the championship series.

In 1999, the South African National Assembly elected Thabo Mbeki as president, succeeding the retiring Nelson Mandela. Mbeki had served as deputy president under Mandela.

In 2000, officials of North and South Korea announced an agreement to work for peace and unity and also said they agreed to allow exchange visits by divided families.

In 2002, U.S. Roman Catholic Church leaders adopted new rules for all dioceses calling for removal from active duty of any priest found to have abused a minor and the reporting of accusations to civil authorities.

In 2003, a part of central Tehran, Iran, turned into a combat zone with battles between riot police and those denouncing Iran's Islamic government.

Also in 2003, the Czech Republic voted overwhelmingly to join the European Union.

In 2005, two explosions killed at least 29 people and injured dozens of others in Iraq.

Also in 2005, a majority of the U.S. Senate apologized in a resolution for taking so long to enact anti-lynching laws. Failure to act, the measure said, contributed to the deaths of 4,700 people from 1882 to 1968, most of them black men.

In 2006, as daily acts of violence continued to pound Iraq, insurgents gunned down an Iraqi newspaper editor they had warned not to publish alleged pro-U.S. coalition copy.

In 2007, an internal FBI audit in Washington was reported to have found more than 1,000 incidents in which agents broke the law or agency rules in counter-terrorism since 2002.

Also in 2007, Massachusetts legislators came within five votes of putting the question of same-sex marriage on the November ballot as a constitutional amendment.

In 2008, heavy rains flooded Iowa and other Midwestern states, worst to hit the U.S. agriculture heartland since 1993, claiming at least 24 lives and damaging millions of acres of corn and soybeans. More than 38,000 people were forced to flee and Mississippi River traffic was disrupted.

Saturday, June 13, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

On June 13th, 1898, the Yukon Territory was formed.

Other Notable Events, June 13 In 323 B.C., Alexander the Great died of fever in Babylon at age 33.

In 1944, the first German V-1 "buzz bomb" hit London.

In 1966, in Miranda vs. Arizona, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that police must read all arrested people their constitutional rights before questioning them.

In 1967, Thurgood Marshall became the first African-American on the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. President Lyndon Johnson chose him to succeed Tom Clark.

In 1976, Arizona Republic investigative reporter Don Bolles died as a result of injuries suffered when a bomb blew up his car 11 days earlier. He had been working on an organized crime story at the time of his death.

In 1977, James Earl Ray, convicted assassin of Martin Luther King Jr., was captured in a Tennessee wilderness area after escaping from prison.

In 1983, the robot spacecraft Pioneer 10 became the first man-made object to leave the solar system. It did so 11 years after it was launched.

In 1991, revising a policy with roots to the McCarthy era, the Bush administration agreed to remove almost all 250,000 names from a secret list of unacceptable aliens.

In 1993, 20 Somalis were killed and 50 more wounded when Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces fired into a crowd of demonstrators protesting U.N. attacks on warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid.

Also in 1993, Canada got its first woman prime minister when the ruling Progressive Conservative Party elected Kim Campbell to head the party and thus the country.

In 1994, the ex-wife of former football star O.J. Simpson and a friend were found stabbed to death outside her condominium in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles.

In 1996, members of the Freemen militia surrendered, 10 days after the FBI cut off electricity to their Montana compound. The standoff lasted 81 days.

In 2002, Roman Catholic Church bishops and cardinals, meeting to discuss abuse charges against some priests, heard three men and a woman tell how their lives had been devastated by abuse and ill treatment by the church.

In 2003, Thai and U.S. officials arrested a suspected illegal arms dealer in Bangkok with radioactive material that could be used to make a "dirty bomb."

Also in 2003, thousands of protesting Tehran students ran the streets lighting fires and swinging chains in a third day of demonstrations.

In 2004, a Roman Catholic newspaper said U.S. President George Bush asked a Vatican official to help push U.S. bishops on certain cultural issues, including "the battle against gay marriage."

In 2005, pop superstar Michael Jackson was acquitted by a California jury on 10 counts of child molestation.

In 2006, U.S. President George Bush made a surprise visit to Baghdad to show support for the new Iraqi Cabinet. He said U.S. military forces wouldn't leave until the Iraqi government could stand on its own.

Also in 2006, the United States formally recognized Montenegro as a sovereign and independent state. Montenegro had been part of Serbia.

In 2007, the U.S. Defense Department said in a report that the expanded U.S.-Iraqi troop "surge" security drive had reduced violence in Baghdad and Anbar province but that attacks were up elsewhere.

Also in 2007, the Palestinian faction Hamas, elected leaders of the parliament and devoted to destroying Israel, seized control of the Gaza Strip in fierce fighting with rival faction Fatah that left about 100 reported dead.

Friday, June 12, 2009

The moon is waning. The morning stars are Neptune, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, Mars and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 12 On June 12th, 1859, the Comstock Lode was discovered in Nevada. Other Notable Events, June 12 In 1939, the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum was dedicated at Cooperstown, N.Y.

In 1967, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states couldn't outlaw interracial marriages.

In 1971, Tricia Nixon, daughter of U.S. President Richard Nixon, married Edward Finch Cox in the first wedding in the Rose Garden of the White House.

In 1979, Bryan Allen, 26, pedaled the 70-pound Gossamer Albatross 22 miles across the English Channel for the first human-powered flight across that body of water.

In 1982, an estimated 700,000 people gathered in New York's Central Park to call for world nuclear disarmament.

In 1986, the South African government, faced with rising black unrest, declared a nationwide state of emergency.

In 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that white workers who claim to be treated unfairly as a result of affirmative action programs can sue for remedies under civil rights legislation.

In 1990, the Russian republic's legislature, under Boris Yeltsin, passed a radical declaration of sovereignty, proclaiming Russia's laws take precedence over those of the central Soviet government in the republic's territory.

In 1991, the Russian republic had its first direct presidential elections with Boris Yeltsin winning. The event is celebrated in Russia as a national holiday known as Independence Day.

In 1992, amid extremely tight security and criticism of his administration's stand on environmental issues, U.S. President George H.W. Bush addressed the Earth Summit, urging rich nations to take specific action on a climate treaty by year's end.

In 1993, U.S. helicopters and gunships destroyed four of Somali warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid's arms depots, one week after his forces allegedly killed 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces in a series of firefights.

In 1994, special counsel Robert Fiske took sworn depositions from U.S. President Bill Clinton and first lady Hillary Clinton about the Whitewater land deal in Arkansas. It was believed to be the first time a sitting president responded directly to questions in a legal case relating to his official conduct.

In 1999, Texas Gov. George W. Bush, son of the former president, announced his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination for the 2000 election.

In 2000, 50 years after the Korean War began the leaders of North and South Korea met in Pyongyang for the first series of talks.

In 2003, television news pioneer David Brinkley, one half of the legendary Huntley-Brinkley evening news team and host of the long-running Sunday public affairs program This Week, died at his home in Houston. He was 82.

Also in 2003, at least 70 Iraqis were killed in a U.S. attack on a terrorist camp near Saddam Hussein's hometown.

In 2005, Time magazine reported a secret document showing the use of pressure tactics in the interrogation of a suspected al-Qaida leader by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

In 2007, Sudanese government officials agreed to allow a joint peacekeeping force of about 19,000 troops from the African Union and the United Nations to be deployed in war-torn Darfur.

Also in 2007, scavengers looking for scrap metal at an old Japanese World War II base in China came across 3,500 buried bombs. Experts said the bombs, which were hauled away safely, could have caused widespread damage had they exploded.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba have a right to challenge their detention in federal court, another rejection of a Bush administration policy on such detainees.

Also in 2008, severe weather in the U.S. Midwest spawned a tornado that killed four Boy Scouts and injured 48 others at a scout ranch in western Iowa and the worst flooding in history at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where 8,000 were evacuated.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

This Day in History, June 11 On June 11th, 1184 B.C., it is believed that Troy was sacked and burned

Other Notable Events, June 11 In 1920, U.S. Sen. Warren G. Harding, R-Ohio, was chosen as the "dark horse" Republican candidate for president. That November, he was elected the 29th president of the United States.

In 1927, U.S. President Calvin Coolidge welcomed Charles Lindbergh home after the pilot made history's first non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean, New York to Paris.

In 1963, facing federalized Alabama National Guard troops, Gov. George Wallace ended his blockade of the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa and allowed two African-Americans to enroll.

In 1967, the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors ended with a United Nations-brokered cease-fire. The outnumbered Israel forces achieved a swift and decisive victory in the brief war.

In 1985, Karen Ann Quinlan died at age 31 in a New Jersey nursing home, nearly 10 years after she lapsed into an irreversible coma. Her condition had sparked a nationwide controversy over her "right to die."

In 1987, Margaret Thatcher became the first British prime minister in 160 years to win three consecutive terms.

In 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down an anti-flag burning law passed by Congress in 1989, reigniting calls for a constitutional amendment.

Also in 1990, former Reagan national security adviser John Poindexter was sentenced to six months in prison, becoming the first Iran-Contra defendant to receive prison time in the arms-for-hostages scandal.

In 1993, North Korea said it would suspend its withdrawal from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

In 1994, after 49 years, the Russian military occupation of what had been East Germany ended with the departure of the Red Army from Berlin.

In 2003, a bomb explosion aboard a Jerusalem bus killed at least 13 people and injured 53 more.

In 2004, a second service was held for former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in Washington, attended by President George W. Bush, the four living ex-presidents and world leaders. The body was flown to California for burial.

In 2005, the world's richest countries agreed to a debt relief deal for the poorest nations, writing off $40 billion in debt.

In 2007, a U.S. appeals court ruled that U.S. President George Bush cannot detain indefinitely as an "enemy combatant" a foreign national arrested in the United States.

In 2008, a U.S. air and ground attack aimed at Taliban militants on the Afghan border killed 11 Pakistan paramilitary forces, angering Pakistan and increasing tension with the United States.

Notable Birthdays for June 11 Those born on this date include:- English playwright/poet Ben Jonson in 1572- German composer Richard Strauss in 1864- Montana's Jeannette Rankin, the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, in 1880- Undersea explorer Jacques Cousteau in 1910- Football coach Vince Lombardi in 1913- Author William Styron in 1925- Actor Chad Everett in 1936 (age 73)- Actor Gene Wilder in 1933 (age 76)- Actress Adrienne Barbeau in 1945 (age 64)- Scottish auto racer Jackie Stewart in 1939 (age 70)- Former football player Joe Montana in 1956 (age 53)- Actor Joshua Jackson ( Dawson's Creek ) in 1978 (age 31)

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

This Day in History, June 10 On June 10th, 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded.

Other Notable Events, June 10 In 1652, silversmith John Hull, in defiance of English colonial law, established the first mint in America.

In 1692, in Salem Village in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Bridget Bishop, the first colonist tried in the Salem witch trials, was hanged after being found guilty of the practice of witchcraft.

In 1898, U.S. Marines invaded Cuba in the Spanish-American War.

In 1935, Alcoholics Anonymous was founded in Akron, Ohio.

In 1942, the German Gestapo burned the tiny Czech village of Lidice after shooting 173 men and shipping the women and children to concentration camps.

In 1943, Hungarian Laszlo Biro invented the ballpoint pen.

In 1989, the Rev. Jerry Falwell said his conservative lobbying group, the Moral Majority, had accomplished its goals and would be disbanded.

In 1991, Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines erupted, spewing debris as far as 20 miles away.

In 1992, Texas law officers urged a boycott of Time-Warner and Warner Bros. over a recording by rap artist Ice-T that they said encouraged the shooting of officers.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton froze most financial transactions between the United States and Haiti and suspended commercial flights to the Caribbean nation.

In 1995, Cuba announced the arrest of U.S. financier-turned-fugitive Robert Vesco on spying charges. Vesco had fled the United States in 1972 ahead of embezzlement charges.

In 1998, a jury in Jacksonville, Fla., found the Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. liable in the lung cancer death of a smoker. The jury awarded his family $950,000, including $450,000 in punitive damages -- the first such assessment in a smoking-related lawsuit.

In 1999, NATO suspended its bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.

In 2000, Syrian President Hafez Assad died from a heart attack at age 69. He had ruled Syria since 1970.

In 2003, a three-member Ontario Court of Appeal in Canada ordered that full marriage rights be extended to same-sex couples.

In 2004, Ray Charles, a 12-time Grammy-winning singer-pianist who pioneered the blending of country and R&B, died at his home in Beverly Hills. He was 73.

In 2005, in a landmark civil lawsuit against the tobacco industry, the U.S. government scaled back its demands for penalties from $130 billion to $10 billion. The government had asked for the larger sum to help 45 million U.S. smokers quit smoking.

In 2006, three detainees at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hanged themselves in the first reported deaths at the facility, prompting calls to close the facility.

In 2007, Israeli planes attacked Gaza, one day after a Palestinian gunman rammed the security border and opened fired in Israel.

Also in 2007, the Iranian government was reported intensifying its domestic crackdown of dissidents by targeting banks, unions and civic groups and accusing women and student groups of seeking to overthrow the government.

In 2008, a massive turnout reported to include several hundred thousand people jammed the streets of Seoul to protest South Korea's decision to resume imports of U.S. beef, which was banned in 2003 after mad cow disease was diagnosed in the United States.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

This Day in History, June 9 On June 9th, 1534, Jacques Cartier discovered the St. Lawerence River.

Other Notable Events, June 9 In 1534, French navigator Jacques Cartier became the first European explorer to discover the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec, Canada.

In 1898, Britain leased Hong Kong from China for 99 years. The territory returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

In 1934, Donald Duck made his first screen appearance in "The Wise Little Hen."

In 1943, The U.S. Congress passed an act authorizing employers to withhold income tax payments from salary checks.

In 1973, Secretariat won racing's Triple Crown with a spectacular victory in the Belmont Stakes, first horse to do so since Citation in 1948. Earlier, Secretariat had captured the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

In 1984, an Italian prosecutor's report linked the Bulgarian secret service to the 1981 assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II. Three Bulgarians were indicted but a trial failed to prove charges against them.

In 1989, Chinese officials continued their crackdown on pro-democracy activists with arrests and a sweeping propaganda campaign.

In 1993, Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito married former diplomat Masako Owada in Tokyo.

In 1994, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to require the Clinton administration to stop participating in the U.N.-sponsored arms embargo against the Bosnian government.

In 1995, Colombian police arrested Gilberto Rodriguez Orejuela, believed to be a leader of the Cali drug cartel.

In 1998, Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar was sworn in as Nigeria's military ruler, one day after the death of Gen. Sani Abacha of a heart attack.

In 2003, former U.S. first lady Hillary Clinton's memoir "Living History" sold 200,000 copies the first day.

Also in 2003, North Korea said it needed to develop nuclear weapons to save costs by reducing conventional forces and had no plan for nuclear blackmail.

In 2004, the body of former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was flown to Washington for a state funeral. Earlier, more than 100,000 mourners paid their respects at the Reagan presidential library in California.

In 2005, after weeks of protests, Bolivian President Carlos Mesa resigned.

In 2006, the new Iraqi Cabinet was completed with the appointments of ministers of defense, interior and national security.

In 2007, thousands took to Rome's streets to protest U.S. President George Bush's visit, clashing with police who responded with tear gas. The following day, Bush was greeted with enthusiasm when he became the first U.S. president to visit Albania.

Also in 2008, a human rights group charged that the Zimbabwean government was responsible for at least 36 political killings ahead of a presidential runoff election between President Robert Mugabe and challenger Morgan Tsvangirai.

Monday, June 8, 2009

This Day in History, June 8 On June 8th, 1949, celebrities such as Danny Kaye and Helen Keller were named members of the Communist party during the Red Scare.

Other Notable Events, June 8 In 1789, James Madison proposed the Bill of Rights, which led to the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

In 1861, Tennessee seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy.

In 1869, Ives McGaffney of Chicago obtained a patent for a "sweeping machine," the first vacuum cleaner.

In 1967, the USS Liberty, an intelligence ship sailing in international waters off Egypt, was attacked by Israeli jet planes and torpedo boats. Thirty-four Americans were killed in the attack, which Israel claimed was a case of mistaken identity.

In 1968, James Earl Ray, an escaped convict, was arrested in London and charged with the assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr.

In 1987, Fawn Hall, former secretary to Iran-Contra scandal figure Oliver North, told congressional hearings that to protect her boss, she helped him alter and shred sensitive documents and smuggle papers out of the White House.

In 1990, Israel's nearly 3-month-old government crisis ended when Yitzhak Shamir and his Likud party won support of six right-wing and religious parties to form one of the most right-wing governing coalitions in Israeli history.

Also in 1990, an explosion started a fire aboard the Norwegian tanker Mega Borg, 57 miles off Galveston, Texas. The blaze burned for days as part of tanker's load of 38 million gallons leaked into the Gulf of Mexico.

In 1992, the U.N. Security Council authorized deployment of an infantry battalion to take over the airport in Sarajevo, Bosnia, and open it to humanitarian aid flights.

In 1994, U.S. President Bill Clinton received an honorary degree from Britain's Oxford University, which he had attended as a Rhodes scholar.

Also in 1994, two of the major warring factions in Bosnia, the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serbs, signed a cease-fire agreement.

In 1995, U.S. Marines rescued downed American pilot Scott O'Grady in Bosnia.

In 1998, EU foreign ministers urged NATO and the United Nations to consider military action against the Yugoslav Serbs in their crackdown on the rebellious province of Kosovo.

In 1999, the case of five New York City police officers accused in the 1997 torturing of a Haitian immigrant ended with the conviction of one of the officers. A second officer pleaded guilty, three others were acquitted.

In 2003, Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. national security adviser, said that U.S. President George Bush's claim in his State of the Union address that Iraq tried to buy uranium from Niger was based on documents found to be forged.

Also in 2003, U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he stands by his testimony before the United Nations that Iraq did have weapons of mass destruction before the war.

In 2004, police in Milan, Italy, arrested an Egyptian man suspected of masterminding the March 11 Madrid commuter train bombings in which 191 people were killed and more than 2,000 were injured.

In 2005, after a two-week trial, a jury in Miami found two former America West pilots guilty of operating an aircraft while drunk.

In 2006, the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and seven others were confirmed killed after an airstrike on a house north of Baquba.

Also in 2006, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., and former Republican Mayor Rudy Giuliani of New York came out on top in a new poll on possible 2008 presidential candidates.

In 2007, leaders of the eight industrialized nations meeting in Heiligendamm, Germany, agreed to consider ways to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050 and to spend $60 billion to treat AIDS and other diseases in the Third World.

In 2008, the AAA reported the average cost of gasoline in the United States had reached $4 a gallon for the first time. Notable Birthdays for June 8 Those born on this date include:- German composer Robert Schumann in 1810- Architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1867- British geneticist Francis Crick, who helped determine the double helix structure of DNA, in 1916- Actor Robert Preston in 1918- Former first lady Barbara Bush in 1925 (age 84)- Actor Jerry Stiller in 1927 (age 82)- Comedian Joan Rivers in 1933 (age 76)- Actor/singer James Darren in 1936 (age 73)- Singer Nancy Sinatra in 1940 (age 69)- Singer/songwriter Boz Scaggs in 1944 (age 65)- Actress Kathy Baker in 1950 (age 59)- Actor Griffin Dunne in 1955 (age 54)- Dilbert cartoonist Scott Adams in 1957 (age 52)- Comedian Keenan Ivory Wayans in 1958 (age 51)- Actress Juliana Margulies in 1966 (age 43)

In 1983, one day after Nicaragua expelled three U.S. diplomats, the Reagan administration ordered six Nicaraguan consulates closed and expelled six Nicaraguan diplomats.

In 1990, South African President F.W. de Klerk lifted a 4-year-old nationwide state of emergency in all but the strife-torn Indian Ocean province of Natal.

In 1996, Max Factor, who pioneered smudge-proof lipstick, died.

In 2002, U.S. missionary Martin Burnham, captured in the Philippines by a Muslim group more than a year earlier, was fatally shot during a rescue attempt.

In 2003, four German peacekeepers were killed and 31 others hurt when a bomb exploded near a bus in Kabul, Afghanistan.

In 2004, a classified U.S. Department of Defense report said that the United States, under national security considerations, wasn't bound by international laws prohibiting torture.

In 2005, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter called for the closing of the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba.

In 2006, Iraq's Health Ministry reported that Baghdad's death toll due to violence in the city had surpassed 6,000 for the year.

In 2007, the U.S. House of Representatives joined the Senate in passing legislation easing restrictions on federal funds for embryonic stem cell research but U.S. President George Bush later vetoed the bill.

Also in 2007, Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed a joint venture with the United States on a European missile shield.

Also in 2008, a leading Israeli official warned that Israel "will attack" Iran if it maintains its current nuclear weapons program. That threat came from Shaul Mofax, the transport minister and former defense chief.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

This Day in History, June 6 On June 6th, 1684, the Ashmoleon Museum opened as the first university museum

Other Notable Events, June 6 In 1872, feminist Susan B. Anthony was fined for voting in an election in Rochester, N.Y. She refused to pay the fine and the judge allowed her to go free.

In 1933, the first drive-in movie theater opened in Camden, N.J.

In 1944, hundreds of thousands of Allied troops began crossing the English Channel in the "D-Day" invasion of Nazi-occupied Europe. It was the largest invasion in history.

In 1966, James Meredith, who in 1962 became the first African-American to attend the University of Mississippi, was wounded by a sniper during a civil rights march through the South.

In 1972, a coal mine explosion in Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, trapped 464 miners underground. More than 425 people died.

In 1982, Israeli forces invaded Lebanon.

In 1994, national leaders and World War II veterans commemorated the 50th anniversary of "D-Day."

In 2002, U.S. President George W. Bush proposed creation of a Cabinet-level Department of Homeland Security whose main responsibility would be prevention of terrorist attacks.

In 2003, the U.S. Labor Department said unemployment in May hit a 9-year-high of 6.1 percent. The report said a net total of 2.5 million jobs had been lost in a little more than two years.

Also in 2003, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft defended the Justice Department's detention of 762 illegal immigrants after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and urged Congress to give the authorities even broader power to pursue suspected terrorists.

In 2005, at least 37 people were killed and dozens more injured in southern Nepal after a crowded bus hit a land mine planted by suspected Maoist rebels.

In 2006, in a document by the Pontifical Council on the Family, the Vatican said that unless abortion is punished as a crime it will be seen as a "banal" act.

Also in 2006, Satan worshippers came out in force at dawn on this, the sixth day of the sixth month of 2006 -- 6-6-6, a number the Bible deems Satanic.

In 2007, the remains of thousands of Jews killed by Nazis during World War II were unearthed from a mass grave found by workers digging pipelines in Ukraine.

Another mass grave suspected of holding the bodies of as many as 500 ethnic Albanians killed in the Kosovo War was found in an abandoned Serbian quarry.

Also in 2007, An estimated 10,000 young protesters clad in black threw stones at riot police at the Group of Eight summit in Germany, prompting a response of tear gas and water cannon.

In 2008, the U.S. Department of Labor reports that the jobless rate increased from 5 to 5.5 percent, the biggest monthly increase in 22 years.

Also in 2008, U.S. and British diplomats report threats and other harassment in Zimbabwe amid government banning of all work by foreign aid agencies. Notable Birthdays for June 6 Those born on this date include:- Spanish painter Diego Velasquez in 1599- American patriot Nathan Hale in 1755- Russian poet Alexander Pushkin in 1799- British Antarctic explorer Robert Falcon Scott in 1868- German novelist Thomas Mann in 1875- Vaudeville bandleader Ted Lewis in 1890- Indonesian dictator Ahmed Sukarno in 1901- Bandleader Jimmie Lunceford in 1902- Singer/songwriter Gary U.S. Bonds in 1939 (age 70)- Actor David Dukes in 1945- Comedian Sandra Bernhard in 1955 (age 54)- Tennis player Bjorn Borg in 1956 (age 53)- Actress Amanda Pays in 1959 (age 50)

Friday, June 5, 2009

The moon is waxing. The morning stars are Mercury, Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Neptune and Uranus. The evening star is Saturn.

This Day in History, June 5 On June 5th, 1305, Clement V was elected Pope.

Other Notable Events, June 5 In 1783, the first public demonstration of a hot-air balloon occurred at Annonay, France.

In 1933, U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt signed a bill abolishing the gold standard.

In 1967, the Six-Day War began between Israel and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria and Jordan.

In 1968, as he campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination, U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy was shot in Los Angeles by Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestine-born Arab. Kennedy, 42, died the next day.

In 1976, the Teton River Dam in Idaho collapsed as it was being filled for the first time, killing 14 people, flooding 300 square miles and causing an estimated $1 billion damage.

In 1985, General Motors agreed to buy Hughes Aircraft for more than $5 billion. At the time, it was the biggest corporate purchase outside the oil industry.

In 1986, Ronald Pelton, a former National Security Agency employee, was convicted in Baltimore of spying for the Soviet Union. The verdict came one day after former Navy intelligence analyst Jonathan Jay Pollard pleaded guilty to espionage on behalf of Israel.

In 1991, in a step away from apartheid, South African legislators repealed the Land Acts of 1913 and 1936, which reserved 87 percent of land for whites.

In 1992, on the 20th anniversary of the first U.N. environmental conference, Brazil and 11 other nations signed a controversial biodiversity treaty setting guidelines for the protection and use of plant and animal species.

In 1993, 23 Pakistani members of the U.N. peacekeeping forces were killed in a series of attacks in Mogadishu, Somalia.

In 1998, ethnic Albanian delegates pulled out of peace talks with the Yugoslav republic of Serbia because of a crackdown by Serb police in the rebellious province of Kosovo.

In 2000, Ukrainian officials announced that the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, site of the worst radiation accident in history, would be closed.

In 2003, officials say U.S. troops will withdraw from the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Korea, bringing an end to 50 years of guard duty.

Also in 2003, a suicide bomber killed herself and 17 others at a bus stop in northern Russia near Chechnya.

In 2004, Ronald Reagan, the 40th U.S. president, died at his Los Angeles home at the age of 93 of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

In 2005, officials said U.S. forces in Iraq discovered dozens of bunkers used to store weapons for militants, with one the size of several U.S. football fields.

In 2006, Islamist militias, fighting U.S.-supported secular warlords in Somalia, claimed to have taken control of Mogadishu after days of fighting.

In 2007, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, former chief of staff for U.S. Vice President Dick Chaney, was sentenced to 30 months in jail for lying to FBI agents and to a grand jury in the investigation of who leaked the name of a covert CIA agent to the news media.

In 2008, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States told a military court in Guantanamo, Cuba, he wanted to plead guilty to the charges to become a martyr. Khalid Sheik Mohammed said he expected to face the death penalty.

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I was born in Mexcio, DF of Belizean parents.I enjoy working with students and I believe that my purpose in life is to guide the minds of the youth around me, to share my life with friends and family and to respect myself and others for the opinions that shape our lives. I believe that we should live each day as if it was our last. We must cherish friendships and spread happiness to those around us. Give from the heart and you will feel a sense of satifaction. That I believe is my purpose for being on this earth.